Explosive imagination

[thedrifter]

Explosive imagination
Submitted by: MCB Camp Pendleton
Story Identification Number: 2004319121843
Story by Cpl. Robert Storm



MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif.(March 18, 2004) -- Sometimes, the door just has to be opened, or the road just


has to be blocked. So Marines dig into their bag of tricks and wire up destructive gadgets.
That?s the point behind refresher demolition training March 2 at Range 219 near the Camp Horno area.

The training allowed anti-armor assaultmen from Companies I and L, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, to learn advanced techniques from more-experienced Marines.

?An improvised charge is used when we don?t have military issued Claymores and Bangalore torpedoes, so we make them ourselves,? said Lance Cpl. Benjamin Dillon, an assault squad leader with Company L and a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Dillon, a 22-year-old native of Corning, N.Y., said improvised charges include water charges, used for blowing open doors.

They also include ?steel-cutting and cratering charges,? used to make roads impassable or to destroy tanks or other vehicles, he said.

?We need to get the Marines feeling comfortable making and placing the charges so that they?ll be able to perform in theater,? said Cpl. Matthew W.West, an assault section leader with Company L.

?The more practice they get, the better they?ll know which type of charge is the best appropriate to the situation,? he said.

Experience is crucial ? especially when you consider what?s at stake, said West, a native of Whitehouse,Tenn.

?The less-experienced Marines use too much explosive a lot of the time, which can be dangerous,? he said.

?They also need to think more ?out of the box?? he said. ?If you come across a door that has to be blown and Marines are next to you waiting to enter the room, you want to use just enough C-4 to blow the door and not kill or deafen the Marines waiting to get in,? Dillon explained.

Ammunition cans were the favored explosives containers during the training.

But coffee cans, soda bottles and various other types of containers work, too.

The Marines scour junkyards and hardware stores days before the training, looking for materials to blow up. Items range from engine blocks to old car doors and anything else Marines might run across in a real operation.

?We take these items and figure out the best ways to destroy them with a minimal amount of explosive. ?Demolitions are only limited by your imagination and creativity,?? Dillon said, reciting a demolitions adage.

Doing a little damage with C-4 is a treat for many of these guys.

?This is the whole reason I joined the Marine Corps, to blow stuff up,? said Pfc. Mark C. Larson, an anti-armor assaultman with Company I.

?I love training with explosives,? he said.

?I?d like to get better at it so that when I go to Iraq, I can put the knowledge to use.

?After all the hard work we put into training, you want a chance to use the knowledge.?

E-mail Cpl. Storm at stormrm@pendleton.usmc.mil.

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2...0C?opendocument

Ellie